


Leading the blind.

by youngjusticewriter



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Father Todd, Gen, Memory Loss, Unfinished idea, Work Up For Adoption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-22 10:51:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17058425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youngjusticewriter/pseuds/youngjusticewriter
Summary: The death of one so young is always a horrible thing to happen but there's something about Robin's death that catches Bruce's eye.





	Leading the blind.

It starts like this: Robin dies. 

His fork, that's impaled with scrambled eggs, clatters onto the dish as he hears the news over the chatter of the diner. Bruce's stomach twists as he stares at the photos shown on screen. 

The loss of a child is always a harsh blow but it feels as though he's been dealt an actual blow to his body; it would a heavy blow, Bruce thinks as he stares at the news channel that already had moved on from the announcement of a girl's death as though it's nothing (this is Gotham - of course it's nothing), like that of a crowbar against the ribs. 

(In his mind he hears nauseating laughter ring through his skull.) 

Bruce doesn't feel hungry anymore as he stares down on his breakfast but he eats it none the less. 

(He knows what's it's like to go hungry.) 

 

[\\]

He attends Stephanie Brown's funeral despite not officiating it. 

It's a public affair or, rather, there was no choice in it being a private affair between Crystal Brown and her daughter's friends with who Stephanie was. For whom or what she died for. 

Bruce hovers in the back with the company of two children who cling together in their grief. One, the boy named Alvin, is wearing sunglasses despite the overcasted weather. They care not for the burn scares that are on his face (that litter his entire body in all actuality) like some many teenagers who have gawked at him. 

Bruce would appreciate it more if he were not in circumstances he was in. 

The funeral goes by too fast until he sees Crystal crying. Words are heavy on Words are heavy on his tongue but Bruce never voices them. 

Yet Bruce, with thin lips, does not offer comfort to the women. (What's worse, he wonders. A mother to lose her child or a child to lose their mother?) 

 

[\\] 

He comes back over and over. Bruce doesn't know why he keeps coming here - at Stephanie's grave - especially at this hour of night but here he is. (This is where he needs to be.) 

It isn't till Bruce hears something below him he knows why he is here. It, is a cry. Not a cry of help, or that of tears, but of horror. There are no words to this heavy cry nor are there any words to describe how his heart jerks in his chest. 

Bruce digs. (All he wanted - all he cried for - was for Bruce. That is name he eventually was given when he could not remember his own. Now he can be there - Bruce could be there - for this girl when Bruce wasn't there for him.) There's no thought to it or horror felt at desecrating a grave because she needs someone just like he had.

**Author's Note:**

> This has been in my writing apps for weeks and if anyone wants to take a swing at furthering this feel free to (just tell me if you do). 
> 
> The plot premise was: Jason instead of being found by Talia is taken in by the church. He's given the name Bruce because that is the only one he feels a strong emotion towards. Fast forward a few years Robin (Steph) does actually die during War Games which for some reason sparks Bruce's attention. He keeps visiting Stephanie's grave until she too is resurrected. Now here's your choice: Talia eventually finds them or the batfamily encounters them. They don't piece it together at first but they do eventually. The question is do they tell Bruce that he's Jason or do they let him live his peaceful life?


End file.
